Adverbs of frequency in detail

In this post, we learn what adverbs of frequency are, and how to use them in a sentence.

What are adverbs of frequency?

Definition: Adverbs of frequency modify a verb by indicating ‘how often’ or ‘how frequently’ the action takes place. To find the adverbs of frequency in a sentence (if there is any), ask how often the action (verb) takes place.

Some common adverbs of frequency: always, often, sometimes, never, daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

Examples:

• She never listens to me.
• Jon often comes here with his friends to play football.
• He does not reply to my texts sometimes.
• All of us are getting paid weekly.
• His parents send him money monthly.

Notice that in the above examples, the first three adverbs of frequency indicate an unspecific or indefinite frequency and the last two indicate a definite frequency.

Types of adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency can be divided into the following two categories:

1. Indefinite frequency of adverbs
2. Definite frequency of adverbs

A list of adverbs of Indefinite frequency

• Always
• Usually
• Generally/normally
• Frequently/often
• Sometimes
• Occasionally
• Rarely
• Seldom
• Hardly ever
• Never

Examples:

• He always makes the same mistakes.
• We usually don’t borrow money from people that we don’t know very well.
• We generally go to see movies on Sundays.
• Riya frequently plays the guitar.
• Do you often throw such parties?
• My father occasionally watches TV.
• I know she is cute and likes me, but I won’t message her first. I rarely do that.
• Arpit, a cabin crew in Qatar Airways, seldom calls me and checks on me.
• We hardly ever go shopping.
• You never give me the respect I deserve.

A list of adverbs of definite frequency

• Hourly
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Yearly
• Quarterly
• Fortnightly
• Twice a week
• Once every 30 minutes
• Thrice a year

Examples:

• Most English teachers around the world are paid hourly.
• We will come to see you weekly.
• They meet monthly and help one another get close to their dreams.
• The IPL (Indian Premium League) takes place annually.
• The payments need to be made fortnightly.
• The live classes will be arranged thrice a week.
• The nurse will check your oxygen level once every 30 minutes.
• He takes writing tests thrice a year.

A list of all adverbs of frequency (with placements and examples)

Adverbs of frequency	Placements in a sentence	Examples
Always	After the subject	• He always gives his best when the team needs him.
Usually	After the subject	• Sonali usually sits alone in the class.
Frequently/often	After the subject	• Do you often come here?
Sometimes	1. After the subject (common) 2. Beginning of the sentence, 3. At the end	• Sometimes I don’t like your attitude. • I sometimes don’t feel like doing anything. • You give the best ideas sometimes.
Occasionally	1. After the subject (common) 2. Beginning of the sentence, 3. At the end	• We all occasionally go skiing. • Occasionally, you should spend some time with yourself. • I do go live on YouTube, but I do it occasionally.
Rarely	1. After the subject (common) 2. At the beginning (rare)	• Rarely do we get any time to play cricket. • I rarely go out without my phone.
Seldom	1. After the subject (common) 2. At the beginning (rare)	• She seldom sits with anyone in the class. • Seldom do I watch English movies.
Hardly ever	1. After the subject (common) 2. At the beginning (rare)	• We hardly ever went on a picnic in my childhood. • Hardly ever did she speak in the class.
Never	After the subject or between the helping verb and main verb	• I have never been to Mumbai. • He never accepts his mistakes.
Hourly	At the end	• My mother calls me hourly.
Weekly	At the end	• They call me weekly for the interview classes.
Monthly	At the end	• We will meet monthly.
Yearly	At the end	• The books are checked yearly.
Quarterly	At the end	• The company offers a dividend every quarter/ quarterly.
Fortnightly	At the end	• We’ll call the kids and check on them fortnightly.
Twice a week	At the end	• I go to my village twice a week.
Once every 30 minutes	At the end	• His phone notifies him to drink water once every 30 minutes.
Thrice a year	At the end	• I visit my hometown thrice a year.

Placement of Adverbs of Frequency in Sentences

It is equally, if not more, important to learn the right placement of adverbs of frequency as it is to learn how to use them correctly.

Their position in a sentence can vary depending on the type of verb used (action verb, auxiliary verb, the verb “to be”, or the adverb showing finite and infinite time).

1. Between the Subject and the Main Verb

This is the most common placement for adverbs of frequency when the sentence has a simple verb (not “to be” or auxiliaries).

Structure: subject + adverb + main verb

Examples:

• I always drink coffee in the morning.
• She rarely eats junk food.
• They usually go out on Saturdays.
• Jon never goes out with us.
• Ajay sometimes snaps at his girlfriend unnecessarily.

2. After the Verb ‘To Be’

When using forms of the verb “to be” (am, is, are, was, were), the adverb of frequency comes after the verb.

Structure: subject + ‘to be’ verb + adverb

Examples:

• You are always complaining about your life.
• She is usually here at my place on Sundays.
• I am never rude to customers.
• They were often absent in school.

❌ She always is kind.
✅ She is always kind.

3. Between an Auxiliary/Modal Verb and the Main Verb

Adverbs of frequency are placed between the auxiliary/modal and the main verb when a sentence has an auxiliary verb (have, has, had, will, etc.) or a modal auxiliary verb (can, could, should, must, might, etc.)

Structure: subject + auxiliary/modal + adverb + Main Verb

Examples:

• She has never seen snow.
• They will always support you.
• We shall never see each other again.
• We must occasionally take breaks.
• You can sometimes be very difficult to deal with.

4. Between an Auxiliary/Modal Verb and the Main Verb

Some adverbs of frequency — especially those expressing definite frequency (e.g., weekly, twice a month, every day) — are placed at the end of the sentence.

Structure: subject + verb + object + adverb (of definite frequency)

Examples:

• I visit my parents weekly.
• She attends yoga classes twice a week.
• They go to church every Sunday.
• We hold meetings monthly.

NOTE: though less common, adverbs of frequency like “occasionally” and “sometimes” can also appear at the end of a sentence.

• You make me lose it sometimes.
• Ron swings by for no reason occasionally.

Beginning a Sentence with Adverbs of Frequency

It is common, though less, for some adverbs of frequency to come at the beginning of a sentence.

Placing adverbs of frequency at the beginning of a sentence:

• Adds emphasis to the frequency
• Brings variety to sentence structure
• Is common in literary, academic, or formal English
• Often requires inversion of the subject and verb (particularly for negative or limiting adverbs)

Types of Adverbs Often Used This Way

• Sometimes
• Occasionally
• Often (less formal)
• Rarely
• Seldom
• Hardly ever
• Never
• Only then/Only later
• Not until… (conditional emphasis)

Examples:

• Sometimes, I just stare out the window and think.
• Occasionally, we go hiking in the hills.
• Often, she surprises us with homemade cookies.

When adverbs like never, rarely, seldom, hardly ever are used at the beginning, subject-auxiliary inversion is required — just like in questions.

Examples:

• Never have I felt more betrayed.
• Rarely do we see such talent.
• Seldom does she lose her temper.
• Hardly ever do they respond on time.
• Only then did he understand the truth.
• Not until I left did I realize how toxic the environment was.

• ❌ Rarely we see this kind of loyalty.
• ✅ Rarely do we see this kind of loyalty.

This structure emphasizes the restriction or intensity of the adverb and mirrors the word order used in formal questions. It grabs attention and adds drama or seriousness.

Compare Normal vs Inverted Forms

Normal Word Order	Emphatic/Inverted Word Order
I have never heard such nonsense.	Never have I heard such nonsense.
She rarely goes out at night.	Rarely does she go out at night.
We hardly ever meet these days.	Hardly ever do we meet these days.
They only realized it later.	Only later did they realize it.

NOTE: for semantic variations, some adverbs of frequency can be used replaced with phrases that carry the same meanings.

Here are a list of phrases that can be used in place of some adverbs of frequency for variety:

Natural Phrase	Equivalent Adverb	Example Sentence
Every now and then	Occasionally	I go back to my hometown every now and then.
All the time	Always	She talks about her cat all the time.
Once in a blue moon	Rarely	He goes to the gym once in a blue moon.
From time to time	Sometimes	We catch up from time to time over coffee.
Every once in a while	Occasionally	Every once in a while, I treat myself to something fancy.
Hardly ever	Rarely	I hardly ever check Facebook these days.
Pretty often	Frequently/Often	I run into her at the market pretty often.
Just about every day	Almost always	He plays video games just about every day.
Nearly all the time	Usually	She’s online nearly all the time.
Once or twice	Seldom/Occasionally	I’ve only met her once or twice.

If you want your English to sound more fluent and conversational, sprinkle in these expressions in place of formal adverbs where appropriate.

Related posts:

• Adverbs of time
• Adverbs of place
• Adverbs of manner